


Finding Our Way

by ghostmaya



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, How amaya and gren meet, POV Amaya (The Dragon Prince), Pre-Canon, Sarai is in there for 0.2 seconds, tdpsecretexchange18, there are also (gasp) ocs in there but they don't play a major role just background stuff, this took me waayy longer than i expected
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-21
Updated: 2018-12-21
Packaged: 2019-09-23 22:22:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17088836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostmaya/pseuds/ghostmaya
Summary: Amaya had gotten by in the army just fine up until now; she nearly perfected reading lips, and was one of the best listening soldiers out there. Even though she didn’t know how to speak, she had full confidence that she would be able to communicate with her officers, without an interpreter.





	Finding Our Way

**Author's Note:**

  * For [waldwasser](https://archiveofourown.org/users/waldwasser/gifts).



> I wrote this for the [TDP Secret Exchange](https://tdpsecretexchange.tumblr.com/) event, and my giftee was [@Waldwasser](http://waldwasser.tumblr.com/)! You gave me a lot to work with, but I ended up going with Gren and Amaya and this story sorta sprung into life on it's own accord, I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> Edit: This is a very slightly updated version, I changed a bit of the language to make it an accurate portrayal of a Deaf person thanks to the fixes of [Baitsberry](https://baitsberry.tumblr.com/)!

‘I told you, I don’t want an interpreter,’ signed Amaya, huffing and crossing her arms. She turned away from Sarai, throwing a couple of punches at the cushioned wall in her assigned station’s training room.

Sarai walked into her field of vision again, wearing her evil older sister smirk. Amaya frowned; that smirk only meant one thing: check mate. ‘How about this,’ she signed, ‘I’ll set you up with someone, and if you don’t like it after two weeks we’ll fire them, okay?’

Amaya rolled her eyes. Just as she thought. Sarai was never going to let this go, and she knew this compromise was the best deal she was going to get out of her. ‘Fine. Two weeks. That’s it. After that you better not bug me about it again.’

She spun around, doing an overhead full frontal kick at the wall. She continued going at it harder than she needed to as she discreetly watched Sarai leave the room. Once she was sure the door was closed behind her, she started throwing lighter punches and kicks.

Amaya had gotten by in the army just fine up until now; she nearly perfected reading lips, and was one of the best listening soldiers out there. Even though she didn’t know how to speak, she had full confidence that she would be able to communicate with her officers, _without_ an interpreter.

She kicked the wall again, a bead of sweat rolling down the side of her face. She was starting with her new position tomorrow, and after a week of intensive training along with the rest of the newly promoted commanders, she was more than ready to start. She was going to make her way up the ranks, independently.

* * *

 

The next day was chilly, a slow wind sweeping over Katolis, the first leaves of Autumn swirling through the air and sprinkling the ground with warm colours. The training facility for the newly recruited officers was in a clearing in the Whitewater Forest, west of The Border. It was a beautiful place, there were small hills littering the wide area bordered by the untouched forest. The perfect place to train.

Amaya studied her recruits. There were only four women out of the twelve. Two of them were tall and built with short hair much like Amaya, one was smaller with hair tied up and a smirk naturally formed on her face, and the last was an older tired looking woman probably around Amaya’s age. She glanced over the eight men, picking out a feature from their posture, face, build, or hair to remember who was who.

All of them had their eyes on her. They were all informed beforehand that she was Deaf, and she could sense that many didn’t know what to expect, and that some were skeptical. She raked her gaze across the line, landing on a guy who thought it was appropriate to raise his eyebrows at her.

She pointed at him, beckoning him to the front of the group. He turned to the man next to him so that she couldn’t see his face, before waltzing up next to her. The other guy tried and failed to hold in a snicker. That little shit.

She approached, jabbing a fist at him. He blocked that one, but wasn’t too lucky when she hit him right in the gut with her other hand. She easily flipped him on his back, pinning him to the ground. He was wide-eyed, quivering with fear. There was no way this guy would survive in a real mission.

She let go, and he scampered back into line. She was going to break down each one of these soldiers and build them back up again.

The next few rounds went pretty much the same, with each of them on the ground in less than thirty seconds. Her next target was the ginger. She noticed that he payed very close attention to all the previous fights, so she expected him to do well. Even so, when he walked up, he seemed nervous.

She made her first move, which he dodged sloppily at best, but he still dodged it. Then she went for the gut, just for kicks.

He blocked it.

She bounced back, in defensive position. He was the first one who blocked both her jabs, but she expected that.

Her leg swung out at the same time as he threw a punch, and he hit her on her side, nearly missing her pressure point. He was the first one to get a hit on her. She felt herself smile as she spun around, kicking him in the shin before he even knew it was coming, and pinning him on the ground.

She stood, holding out her hand for him to take. He stood, and she smiled at him, giving a nod of approval. He smiled back, and she could tell that he knew what she was saying. He was going places. With training and hard work he could become one of the most powerful forces of the Standing Battalion if he wanted to.

After the drill, she had to let them go. It pained her more than she’d like to admit that she didn’t get to debrief. Some of her students were walking away confused. Some were walking away without learning anything. Okay, it pained her a lot.

In a perfect world, physical training would be perfectly fine to focus all of her energy on, but it wasn’t. Still, she doubted an interpreter could do much to help her with that.

* * *

 

‘Good morning all,’ Amaya signed. ‘Today I have Maivius with me to interpret, but don’t get used to it. I’m letting you know in advance that he’ll be interpreting everything that you’re saying, even when you’re not talking to me.’ She didn’t look at the cocky guy from yesterday, but everyone else was. Good.

She glanced over to interpreter Sarai managed to find, and could immediately tell that he wasn’t expressing anything correctly. She groaned internally, accepting her fate of dragging around dead weight for the next two weeks.

After formally introducing herself, she continued with her own agenda. ‘We’re stuck together for the next few months, and I’d like us to all get to know each other a bit. After you state your name and rank, I want to hear a fun fact about yourself,’ she signed, grinning. ‘I’ll go first. My favourite colour is pink.’ She smirked, watching everyone’s faces slowly melt into expressions of horror. ‘Oh, and did I mention you can’t have the same fact as anyone else?’

As she went through the lineup, Amaya watched everyone’s faces carefully. She pinpointed the anxious people, the obnoxious people, the bubbly people. She couldn’t help noticing the ginger from yesterday, the first one to get a hit on her. He was near the end of the line, and his nervous energy could be felt from a mile away. She never looked directly at him, but she could feel his eyes glancing towards her every other second. It was so distracting that she missed the last officer’s introduction.

‘Sorry, could you repeat your introduction for me?’

“Yessir!” he said a beat later after Maivius interpreted, Amaya reading his lips. Maivius was interpreting the introduction, but the only thing it did was further distract her from reading lips. He had obviously learned the language from a hearing person, and his stiff movements were sometimes even harder to understand than lip-reading.

If she was going to get an interpreter, which she definitely was not going to, she’d make sure they’re fluent, someone easy to get along with, and who got her personality well. It was a tough criteria to fill, so unless someone magically came out of the blue, she would just have to get on without one.

“Officer Gren of the Standing Battalion, sir!” said the ginger with a salut. He dropped his hand, and bounced on his feet, glancing to the ground. He opened his mouth, and closed it again. Then he raised his hands. ‘And a fun fact about me,’ he signed, ‘is that I know sign language.’

Amaya’s mouth dropped. ‘Why didn’t you say so sooner?’

‘I didn’t want to speak out of line, sir!’ Amaya could practically see him sweating. The boy was worried that she’d be mad for him talking out of line.

Her shoulders shook as smiled, bursting into laughter. ‘Officer Gren, you are hilarious,’ she signed, and wiped her eyes. ‘I look forward to working with you.’

She watched Gren relax, and he smiled back at her.

If she hadn’t been so attuned to notice facial expressions, it would have been very easy to miss the slight shift of the eye, the slight tightening of the lips. Amaya followed his gaze, to Maivius. She stopped about half-way. Right now, Gren was the only one to know that she was smiling through her language, the only one to catch her undertones. These officers had no way of knowing if she was angry, joking, monotone, and she had a feeling that Gren understood that too.

She made up her mind right then and there: Maivius would not be coming back tomorrow.

* * *

 

The next day, she informed everyone that Maivius was gone, and went about training like normal. She tested everyone’s archery abilities, which Cocky Guy (she didn’t bother to learn his name) unfortunately excelled at.

Amaya was actually quite proficient in the art, but she much preferred close quarter fighting. Archery, and other long distance forms of combat removed her from the fight. She was already reckless in a close quarters, but she knew her boundaries. She didn’t trust herself to fight when she couldn’t feel her opponent.

After wrapping up and sending everyone to the living quarters, Gren stayed back. He wasn’t the best at putting the correct pressure on the bow and arrow, but his aim was impeccable.

‘Did you need something, Officer Gren?’ she asked. She was quick to recognize his anxiety, but she didn’t push. That was something she’d have to work on with him.

The wind came to a halt, and standing in the field alone with Gren made her feel so small, like she could run for hours without getting anywhere. It was a peaceful place, easy to forget that the border separating Katolis from Xadia was no more than three kilometres away.

‘Yes, uh- no. I guess I was going to ask you if _you_ need anything? I mean, I noticed that Maivius didn’t come back today.’

‘Yes. I fired him, if that’s what you were wondering.’

‘I actually was wondering if you’re looking for someone else to hire? I mean- well- this sounded less stupid in my head…’ he dropped his hands, sighing.

Amaya chuckled. ‘Always full of surprises, officer. Either way, whether it would benefit me or not, I will outright refuse you taking the role of my interpreter. You’re very talented, and I wouldn’t want to be the cause in stunting your growth as a soldier.’

‘With all do respect, I don’t really care that much about rising in the ranks and all that. I joined the Standing Battalion because I want to serve the country,’ Gren hesitated for a moment, his hands hovering in the air. ‘I thought about it, and I feel that working for you is the best thing that I can do for Katolis. You’re an amazing leader, I’ve heard so many stories about what you did in the war and meeting you in person just convinced me more that following you is the right choice. I understand if you won’t accept, but that’s how I feel about it.’

Amaya blinked a couple of times, not sure if she was seeing things right. She hadn’t even considered that anyone could possibly admire her, but here she was, getting told that following her was better than making one’s own difference. ‘Well… that’s just utter bullshit.’

Gren coughed into his fist, regaining his composure after a moment. ‘I’m sorry sir, but I’m not going to change my mind about this,’ he signed, mustering up a confident look. It suited him.

‘Well, if you feel so strongly about it, there’s nothing I can do from stopping you-’

‘Really?’ Gren signed over her.

‘ _From_ ,’ Amaya continued, ‘making your way up the ranks on your own accord. I’ll be more than happy to take you under my wing, as both an interpreter _and_ Lieutenant. It’ll be a lot of work but I’m more than confident that you’ll be able to-’

‘I’ll do it,’ he signed without hesitation. Then his face softened, and he looked directly in Amaya’s eyes. ‘Thank you, Commander.’

The fact that he was only confident when talking about working for Amaya was a bit concerning, but it was a step forward in the right direction. She pictured the two of them standing side by side, supporting each other in battle, working seamlessly with each other. The thought made her smile.

She had no idea what the future held for her, but suddenly, the thought of facing it with somebody else by her side didn’t seem so awful.

**Author's Note:**

> This was so much fun to write, I loved playing around with the scenery of Katolis and stuff since it takes place somewhere not explored in the show. If you want you can find me on [Tumblr](https://ghost-maya.tumblr.com/), yes I'm unfortunately still there.


End file.
